Systems and methods for recommending a personalized pick-up location

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure is related to systems and methods for recommending a personalized pick-up location. The method may include obtaining data from a requestor; determining a recommended pick-up location and a description of the recommended pick-up location based on the data; and output the recommended pick-up location and the description of the recommended pick-up location.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of International Application No.PCT/CN2018/087442, filed on May 18, 2018, the contents of which arehereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to an on-demand service, and moreparticularly, relates to systems and methods for recommending apersonalized pick-up location.

BACKGROUND

Online car hailing has become an important means of transportation indaily life. When a service requestor (e.g., a passenger) requests a carservice via an online car hailing service platform using a userterminal, a server may recommend a pick-up location for both the servicerequestor and a service provider (e.g., a driver). The pick-up locationmay be determined based on position information of the user terminal. Aproblem in an online car hailing service is that the positioninformation of the user terminal may not be accurate, or the recommendedpick-up location may not be suitable. Moreover, a preference or habit ofthe service requestor may also affect the acceptance of the recommendedpick-up location. As a result, the service provider and the servicerequestor may need to further communicate with each other to determine apick-up location, causing inconvenience for both the service providerand the service requestor. It may be desirable to develop systems andmethods for recommending a suitable pick-up location more precisely inconsideration of the preference of the service requestor.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a system fordetermining a recommended pick-up location is provided. The system mayinclude at least one storage medium storing a set of instructions and atleast one processor configured to communicate with the at least onestorage medium, wherein when executing the set of instructions, the atleast one processor is directed to obtain a current request locationfrom a requestor; obtain historical orders of the requestor, wherein thehistorical orders include a plurality of pick-up locations and aplurality of corresponding request locations, and the plurality ofpick-up locations are located in a pick-up location zone; determine oneor more request location zones including the plurality of requestlocations; determine, based on the historical orders, a selectedcorrespondence relationship between the one or more request locationzones and the pick-up location zone; and determine a recommended pick-uplocation based on the current request location and the selectedcorrespondence relationship.

In some embodiments, the at least one processor may be further directedto determine a description of the recommended pick-up location.

In some embodiments, to determine the description of the recommendedpick-up location, the at least one processor may be directed to obtain aplurality of historical orders, each including a description of therecommended pick-up location; and determine whether the descriptionsfrom the historical orders are the same. In response to thedetermination that the descriptions from the historical orders are thesame, the at least one processor may be directed to designate the samedescription as the description of the recommended pick-up location. Inresponse to the determination that at least one description from thehistorical orders is different, the at least one processor may bedirected to determine a user favorite description according to usagefrequencies of the descriptions from the historical orders, anddesignate the user favorite description as the description of therecommended pick-up location.

In some embodiments, the at least one processor may be further directedto determine a plurality of correspondence relationships between aplurality of request location zones and a plurality of pick-up locationzones; and determine the selected correspondence relationship based onthe plurality of correspondence relationships.

In some embodiments, to determine the selected correspondencerelationship, the at least one processor may be directed to determinewhether the current request location is located in more than one requestlocation zones. In response to the determination that the currentrequest location is located in one request location zone, the at leastone processor may be directed to determine the correspondencerelationship associated with the request location zone to be theselected correspondence relationship. In response to the determinationthat the current request location is located in more than one requestlocation zones, the at least one processor may be directed to obtainhistorical data related to the requestor, and determine, based on theplurality of correspondence relationships and the historical data, theselected correspondence relationship.

In some embodiments, to determine whether the current request locationis located in more than one request location zones, the at least oneprocessor may be directed to determine a positioning accuracy of thecurrent request location; and determine whether the current requestlocation is located in more than one request location zones according tothe positioning accuracy of the current request location.

In some embodiments, the historical data may include data related to atleast one of acceptance on historical recommended pick-up locations,modifications to historical recommended pick-up locations, and temporaryevents.

In some embodiments, to obtain historical orders related to therequestor including a plurality of the pick-up locations and theplurality of corresponding request locations, the at least one processormay be directed to obtain travel paths of the requestor and a serviceprovider; determine an intersection between the travel path of therequestor and the travel path of the service provider; obtain a roadnetwork including the intersection; and determine the pick-up locationbased on the intersection and the road network.

In some embodiments, to determine the one or more request location zonesincluding the plurality of request locations, the at least one processoris directed to divide the plurality of request locations into one ormore groups according to a density peak clustering algorithm; anddetermine the one or more request location zones, wherein each requestlocation zone includes a group of request locations.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method fordetermining a recommended pick-up location may be determined. The methodmay be implemented on a computing device having at least one processorand at least one computer-readable storage medium, wherein the methodmay include obtaining a current request location from a requestor;obtaining historical orders of the requestor, wherein the historicalorders include a plurality of pick-up locations and a plurality ofcorresponding request locations, and the plurality of pick-up locationsare located in a pick-up location zone; determining one or more requestlocation zones including the plurality of request locations;determining, based on the historical orders, a selected correspondencerelationship between the one or more request location zones and thepick-up location zone; and determining a recommended pick-up locationbased on the current request location and the selected correspondencerelationship.

According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, anon-transitory computer readable medium is provided. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium may include at least one set of instructionsfor recommending a pick-up location, wherein when executed by at leastone processor of a computer device, the at least one set of instructionsdirects the at least one processor to obtain a current request locationfrom a requestor; obtain historical orders of the requestor, wherein thehistorical orders include a plurality of pick-up locations and aplurality of corresponding request locations, and the plurality ofpick-up locations are located in a pick-up location zone; determine oneor more request location zones including the plurality of requestlocations; determine, based on the historical orders, a selectedcorrespondence relationship between the one or more request locationzones and the pick-up location zone; and determine a recommended pick-uplocation based on the current request location and the selectedcorrespondence relationship.

Additional features will be set forth in part in the description whichfollows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the artupon examination of the following and the accompanying drawings or maybe learned by production or operation of the examples. The features ofthe present disclosure may be realized and attained by practice or useof various aspects of the methodologies, instrumentalities andcombinations set forth in the detailed examples discussed below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is further described in terms of exemplaryembodiments. These exemplary embodiments are described in detail withreference to the drawings. The drawings are not to scale. Theseembodiments are non-limiting exemplary embodiments, in which likereference numerals represent similar structures throughout the severalviews of the drawings, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary on-demandservice system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary components of acomputing device according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/orsoftware components of an exemplary user terminal according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary processingengine according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process forrecommending a personalized pick-up location according to someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary processingmodule according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for determininga correspondence relationship between one or more request location zonesand a pick-up location zone according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for determininga recommended pick-up location according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for determininga description of a recommended pick-up location according to someembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to illustrate the technical solutions related to theembodiments of the present disclosure, brief introduction of thedrawings referred to in the description of the embodiments is providedbelow. Obviously, drawings described below are only some examples orembodiments of the present disclosure. Those having ordinary skills inthe art, without further creative efforts, may apply the presentdisclosure to other similar scenarios according to these drawings.Unless stated otherwise or obvious from the context, the same referencenumeral in the drawings refers to the same structure and operation.

As used in the disclosure and the appended claims, the singular forms“a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the content clearlydictates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including” when used inthe disclosure, specify the presence of stated steps and elements, butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other steps andelements.

Some modules of the system may be referred to in various ways accordingto some embodiments of the present disclosure, however, any number ofdifferent modules may be used and operated in a client terminal and/or aserver. These modules are intended to be illustrative, not intended tolimit the scope of the present disclosure. Different modules may be usedin different aspects of the system and method.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, flow charts areused to illustrate the operations performed by the system. It is to beexpressly understood, the operations above or below may or may not beimplemented in order. Conversely, the operations may be performed ininverted order, or simultaneously. Besides, one or more other operationsmay be added to the flowcharts, or one or more operations may be omittedfrom the flowchart.

Technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure bedescribed with reference to the drawings as described below. It isobvious that the described embodiments are not exhaustive and are notlimiting. Other embodiments obtained, based on the embodiments set forthin the present disclosure, by those with ordinary skill in the artwithout any creative works are within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

In an aspect, the present disclosure is directed to systems and methodsfor recommending a personalized pick-up location where a serviceprovider may pick up a requestor. When determining the recommendedpick-up location, correspondence relationships may be establishedbetween pick-up location zones and request location zones according tohistorical orders. If current request location of a requestor is in arequest location zone, a recommended pick-up location may be generatedfrom at least one corresponding pick-up location zone based on thecorrespondence relationship associated with the current request locationof the requestor. In addition, a description of the recommended pick-uplocation may be determined.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary on-demandservice system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.For example, the on-demand service system 100 may be an onlinetransportation service platform for transportation services such as carhailing services, chauffeur services, vehicle delivery services,carpooling services, bus services, driver hiring services, and shuttleservices, etc. The on-demand service system 100 may include a server110, a user terminal 120, a storage device 150, a driver terminal 140,and a network 150. The server 110 may include a processing engine 112.

The server 110 may be configured to process information and/or datarelating to a service request, for example, a service request forhailing a car. For example, the server 110 may receive a service requestfrom a user terminal 120, and process the service request to recommend apick-up location to the user terminal 120. In some embodiments, theserver 110 may be a single server, or a server group. The server groupmay be centralized, or distributed (e.g., the server 110 may be adistributed system). In some embodiments, the server 110 may be local orremote. For example, the server 110 may access information and/or datastored in the user terminal 120, the driver terminal 140 and/or thestorage device 130 via the network 150. As another example, the server110 may be directly connected to the user terminal 120, the driverterminal 140 and/or the storage device 130 to access stored informationand/or data. In some embodiments, the server 110 may be implemented on acloud platform. Merely by way of example, the cloud platform may includea private cloud, a public cloud, a hybrid cloud, a community cloud, adistributed cloud, an inter-cloud, a multi-cloud, or the like, or anycombination thereof. In some embodiments, the server 110 may beimplemented on a computing device having one or more componentsillustrated in FIG. 2 in the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the server 110 may include a processing engine 112.The processing engine 112 may process information and/or data relatingto the service request to perform one or more functions described in thepresent disclosure. For example, the processing engine 112 may obtain aservice request from the user terminal 120 to hail a car. In someembodiments, the processing engine 112 may include one or moreprocessing engines (e.g., single-core processing engine(s) or multi-coreprocessor(s)). Merely by way of example, the processing engine 112 mayinclude a central processing unit (CPU), an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), an application-specific instruction-setprocessor (ASIP), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a physics processingunit (PPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gatearray (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a controller, amicrocontroller unit, a reduced instruction-set computer (RISC), amicroprocessor, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the user terminal 120 and/or the driver terminal140 may be an individual, a tool or other entity directly relating tothe request. A user may be a service requester. In the presentdisclosure, “user,” “user terminal” may be used interchangeably. Adriver may be a service provider. In the present disclosure, “driver,”“driver terminal” may be used interchangeably. In some embodiments, theuser terminal 120 may include a mobile device 120-1, a tablet computer120-2, a laptop computer 120-3, and a built-in device 120-4 in a motorvehicle, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments,the mobile device 120-1 may include a smart home device, a wearabledevice, a smart mobile device, a virtual reality device, an augmentedreality device, or the like, or any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the smart home device may include a smart lighting device,a control device of an intelligent electrical apparatus, a smartmonitoring device, a smart television, a smart video camera, aninterphone, or the like, or any combination thereof. In someembodiments, the wearable device may include a smart bracelet, a smartfootgear, a smart glass, a smart helmet, a smart watch, a smartclothing, a smart backpack, a smart accessory, or the like, or anycombination thereof. In some embodiments, the smart mobile device mayinclude a smartphone, a personal digital assistance (PDA), a gamingdevice, a navigation device, a point of sale (POS) device, or the like,or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the virtual realitydevice and/or the augmented reality device may include a virtual realityhelmet, a virtual reality glass, a virtual reality patch, an augmentedreality helmet, an augmented reality glass, an augmented reality patch,or the like, or any combination thereof. For example, the virtualreality device and/or the augmented reality device may include a GoogleGlass, an Oculus Rift, a HoloLens, a Gear VR, etc. In some embodiments,built-in device in the motor vehicle 120-4 may include an onboardcomputer, an onboard television, etc. In some embodiments, the userterminal 120 may be a device with positioning technology for locatingthe position of the user and/or the user terminal 120.

In some embodiments, the driver terminal 140 may be similar to, or thesame device as the user terminal 120. In some embodiments, the driverterminal 140 may be a device with positioning technology for locatingthe position of the driver and/or the driver terminal 140. In someembodiments, the user terminal 120 and/or the driver terminal 140 maycommunicate with another positioning device to determine the position ofthe user, the user terminal 120, the driver, and/or the driver terminal140. In some embodiments, the user terminal 120 and/or the driverterminal 140 may transmit position information to the server 110.

The storage device 130 may store data and/or instructions related to theservice request. In some embodiments, the storage device 130 may storedata obtained/acquired from the user terminal 120 and/or the driverterminal 140. In some embodiments, the storage device 130 may store dataand/or instructions that the server 110 may execute or use to performexemplary methods described in the present disclosure. In someembodiments, the storage device 140 may include a mass storage, aremovable storage, a volatile read-and-write memory, a read-only memory(ROM), or the like, or any combination thereof. Exemplary mass storagemay include a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a solid-state drive, etc.Exemplary removable storage may include a flash drive, a floppy disk, anoptical disk, a memory card, a zip disk, a magnetic tape, etc. Exemplaryvolatile read-and-write memory may include a random access memory (RAM).Exemplary RAM may include a dynamic RAM (DRAM), a double date ratesynchronous dynamic RAM (DDR SDRAM), a static RAM (SRAM), a thyristorRAM (T-RAM), and a zero-capacitor RAM (Z-RAM), etc. Exemplary ROM mayinclude a mask ROM (MROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasableprogrammable ROM (PEROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), a compact disk ROM (CD-ROM), and a digital versatile disk ROM,etc. In some embodiments, the storage device 130 may be implemented on acloud platform. Merely by way of example, the cloud platform may includea private cloud, a public cloud, a hybrid cloud, a community cloud, adistributed cloud, an inter-cloud, a multi-cloud, or the like, or anycombination thereof.

In some embodiments, the storage device 130 may be connected to thenetwork 150 to communicate with one or more components in the on-demandservice system 100 (e.g., the server 110, the user terminal 120, thedriver terminal 140). One or more components in the on-demand servicesystem 100 may access the data or instructions stored in the storagedevice 130 via the network 150. In some embodiments, the storage device130 may be directly connected to or communicate with one or morecomponents in the on-demand service system 100 (e.g., the server 110,the terminal 130, the driver terminal 140, etc.). In some embodiments,the storage device 130 may be part of the server 110.

The network 150 may facilitate exchange of information and/or data. Insome embodiments, one or more components in the on-demand service system100 (e.g., the server 110, the user terminal 120, the storage device130, and the driver terminal 140) may send and/or receive informationand/or data to/from other component(s) in the on-demand service system100 via the network 150. For example, the server 110 may obtain/acquireservice request from the user terminal 120 and/or the driver terminal140 via the network 150. In some embodiments, the network 150 may be anytype of wired or wireless network, or combination thereof. Merely by wayof example, the network 150 may include a cable network, a wirelinenetwork, an optical fiber network, a tele communications network, anintranet, an Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a public telephone switched network(PSTN), a Bluetooth™ network, a ZigBee™ network, a near fieldcommunication (NFC) network, a global system for mobile communications(GSM) network, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network, atime-division multiple access (TDMA) network, a general packet radioservice (GPRS) network, an enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE)network, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) network, ahigh speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) network, a long term evolution(LTE) network, a user datagram protocol (UDP) network, a transmissioncontrol protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) network, a short messageservice (SMS) network, a wireless application protocol (WAP) network, aultra wide band (UWB) network, an infrared ray, or the like, or anycombination thereof. In some embodiments, the on-demand service system100 may include one or more network access points. For example, thesystem 110 may include wired or wireless network access points such asbase stations and/or wireless access points 150-1, 150-2, . . . ,through which one or more components of the on-demand service system 100may be connected to the network 150 to exchange data and/or information.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary components of acomputing device according to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. on which the server 110, the user terminal 120, the storagedevice 130, and/or the driver terminal 140 may be implemented accordingto some embodiments of the present disclosure. The particular system mayuse a functional block diagram to explain the hardware platformcontaining one or more user interfaces. The computer may be a computerwith general or specific functions. Both types of the computers may beconfigured to implement any particular system according to someembodiments of the present disclosure. Computing device 200 may beconfigured to implement any components that perform one or morefunctions disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, thecomputing device 200 may implement any component of the on-demandservice system 100 as described herein. In FIGS. 1-2, only one suchcomputer device is shown purely for convenience purposes. One ofordinary skill in the art would understood at the time of filing of thisapplication that the computer functions relating to the on-demandservice as described herein may be implemented in a distributed fashionon a number of similar platforms, to distribute the processing load.

The computing device 200, for example, may include COM ports 250connected to and from a network connected thereto to facilitate datacommunications. The computing device 200 may also include a processor(e.g., the processor 220), in the form of one or more processors (e.g.,logic circuits), for executing program instructions. For example, theprocessor may include interface circuits and processing circuitstherein. The interface circuits may be configured to receive electronicsignals from a bus 210, wherein the electronic signals encode structureddata and/or instructions for the processing circuits to process. Theprocessing circuits may conduct logic calculations, and then determine aconclusion, a result, and/or an instruction encoded as electronicsignals. Then the interface circuits may send out the electronic signalsfrom the processing circuits via the bus 210.

The exemplary computing device may include the internal communicationbus 210, program storage and data storage of different forms including,for example, a disk 270, and a read only memory (ROM) 230, or a randomaccess memory (RAM) 240, for various data files to be processed and/ortransmitted by the computing device. The exemplary computing device mayalso include program instructions stored in the ROM 230, RAM 240, and/orother type of non-transitory storage medium to be executed by theprocessor 220. The methods and/or processes of the present disclosuremay be implemented as the program instructions. The computing device 200also includes an I/O component 260, supporting input/output between thecomputer and other components. The computing device 200 may also receiveprogramming and data via network communications.

Merely for illustration, only one CPU and/or processor is illustrated inFIG. 2. Multiple CPUs and/or processors are also contemplated; thusoperations and/or method steps performed by one CPU and/or processor asdescribed in the present disclosure may also be jointly or separatelyperformed by the multiple CPUs and/or processors. For example, if in thepresent disclosure the CPU and/or processor of the computing device 200executes both step A and step B, it should be understood that step A andstep B may also be performed by two different CPUs and/or processorsjointly or separately in the computing device 200 (e.g., the firstprocessor executes step A and the second processor executes step B, orthe first and second processors jointly execute steps A and B).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/orsoftware components of an exemplary user terminal according to someembodiments of the present disclosure; on which the requester terminal130 or the provider terminal 140 may be implemented according to someembodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 3, themobile device 300 may include a communication platform 310, a display320, a graphic processing unit (GPU) 330, a central processing unit(CPU) 340, an I/O 350, a memory 360, and a storage 390. The CPU 340 mayinclude interface circuits and processing circuits similar to theprocessor 220. In some embodiments, any other suitable component,including but not limited to a system bus or a controller (not shown),may also be included in the mobile device 300. In some embodiments, amobile operating system 370 (e.g., iOS™, Android™, Windows Phone™, etc.)and one or more applications 380 may be loaded into the memory 360 fromthe storage 390 in order to be executed by the CPU 340. The applications380 may include a browser or any other suitable mobile apps forreceiving and rendering information relating to a service request orother information from the location based service providing system onthe mobile device 300. User interactions with the information stream maybe achieved via the I/O devices 350 and provided to the processingengine 112 and/or other components of the on-demand service system 100via the network 120.

In order to implement various modules, units and their functionsdescribed above, a computer hardware platform may be used as hardwareplatforms of one or more elements (e.g., a component of the sever 110described in FIG. 2). Since these hardware elements, operating systems,and program languages are common, it may be assumed that persons skilledin the art may be familiar with these techniques and they may be able toprovide information required in the route planning according to thetechniques described in the present disclosure. A computer with userinterface may be used as a personal computer (PC), or other types ofworkstations or terminal devices. After being properly programmed, acomputer with user interface may be used as a server. It may beconsidered that those skilled in the art may also be familiar with suchstructures, programs, or general operations of this type of computerdevice. Thus, extra explanations are not described for the figures.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary processingengine according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Theprocessing engine 112 may include an acquisition module 410, aprocessing module 420, an I/O module 430, and a communication module440. The modules may be hardware circuits of at least part of theprocessing engine 112. The modules may also be implemented as anapplication or set of instructions read and executed by the processingengine 112. Further, the modules may be any combination of the hardwarecircuits and the application/instructions. For example, the modules maybe the part of the processing engine 112 when the processing engine 112is executing the application/set of instructions.

The acquisition module 410 may acquire data from one or more componentsin the on-demand service system 100 (e.g., the user terminal 120, thedriver terminal 140, the storage 130, etc.). In some embodiments, theacquired data may relate to on-demand services. Merely by ways ofexample, the acquired data may include historical orders, request foron-demand services, position information, personalized information of auser, user instructions, programs, algorithms, or the like, or acombination thereof. For example, the acquisition module 410 may acquiredata, such as a current request location, a destination from a requestorvia the user terminal 120. As another example, the acquisition module410 may acquire historical orders from the storage 130.

The processing module 420 may process data related to on-demandservices. The processing module 420 may obtain or receive data and/orinformation from the acquisition module 410, the I/O module 430, and/orany storage devices capable of storing data (e.g., the storage 130, oran external data source). In some embodiments, the processing module 420may obtain historical orders including a plurality of request locationsand a plurality of pick-up locations, and determine a pick-up locationzone and one or more corresponding request location zones based on thehistorical orders. The pick-up location zone may include the pluralityof pick-up locations, and each request location zone may include atleast one of the plurality of request locations. As used herein, arequest location may refer to a location where a requestor (e.g., apassenger) sends a request for an on-demand service. A pick-up locationcorresponding to the request location may refer to a location where aservice provider (e.g., a driver) picks up the requestor. The pick-uplocation zone may refer to a geographic zone in which a plurality ofpick-up locations may be located. The request location zone may refer toa geographic zone in which a plurality of request locations may belocated. In some embodiments, the processing module 420 may determine arecommended pick-up location and a description of the recommendedpick-up location.

The processing module 420 may include a hardware processor, such as amicrocontroller, a microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computer(RISC), an application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), anapplication-specific instruction-set processor (ASIP), a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a physicsprocessing unit (PPU), a microcontroller unit, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an advancedRISC machine (ARM), a programmable logic device (PLD), any circuit orprocessor capable of executing one or more functions, or the like, orany combinations thereof.

The I/O module 430 may input or output signals, data or information. Forexample, the I/O module 430 may output a recommended pick-up locationand a description of the recommended pick-up location to a user (e.g., arequestor). In some embodiments, the I/O module 430 may include an inputdevice and an output device. Exemplary input device may include akeyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, a microphone, or the like, or acombination thereof. Exemplary output device may include a displaydevice, a loudspeaker, a printer, a projector, or the like, or acombination thereof. Exemplary display device may include a liquidcrystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED)-based display, aflat panel display, a curved screen, a television device, a cathode raytube (CRT), or the like, or a combination thereof.

The communication module 440 may be connected to a network (e.g., thenetwork 120) to facilitate data communications. The communication module440 may establish connections between the processing engine 112 and theuser terminal 120, the driver terminal 140, and/or the storage 120. Forexample, the communication module 440 may send the recommended pick-uplocation and the description of the recommended pick-up location to theuser terminal 120 and the driver terminal 140. The connection may be awired connection, a wireless connection, any other communicationconnection that can enable data transmission and/or reception, and/orany combination of these connections. The wired connection may include,for example, an electrical cable, an optical cable, a telephone wire, orthe like, or any combination thereof. The wireless connection mayinclude, for example, a Bluetooth™ link, a Wi-Fi™ link, a WiMax™ link, aWLAN link, a ZigBee™ link, a mobile network link (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G,etc.), or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, thecommunication port 207 may be and/or include a standardizedcommunication port, such as RS232, RS485, etc.

It should be noted that the above description of the processing engine112 is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and notintended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For personshaving ordinary skills in the art, multiple variations and modificationsmay be made under the teachings of the present disclosure. For example,the processing engine 112 may further include a storage modulefacilitating data storage. However, those variations and modificationsdo not depart from the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 500 forrecommending a pick-up location according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In some embodiments, the process 500 may beimplemented in the on-demand service system 100. For example, theprocess 500 may be stored in the storage device 130 and/or the storage(e.g., the ROM 230, the RAM 240, etc.) as a form of instructions, andinvoked and/or executed by the server 110 (e.g., the processing engine112 in the server 110, or the processor 220 of the processing engine 112in the server 110).

In 510, the acquisition module 410 may obtain data from a requestor. Therequestor may or may not be a passenger. For instance, a requestor mayrequest a service for himself/herself or for another person (e.g., afriend, a family member, a client, etc.). In some embodiments, theacquisition module 410 may obtain data from the user terminal 120 of therequestor. The user terminal 120 may include, for example, a mobiledevice 120-1, a tablet computer 120-2, a laptop computer 120-3, abuilt-in device 120-4, etc. In some embodiments, the user terminal 120may include an application through which a service request may beinitiated.

In some embodiments, the data obtained from the requestor may relate toa service request for a transportation service, for example, an onlinecar hailing service request, a taxi service request, a tailored carservice request, or the like, or any combination thereof. The obtaineddata may include a current request location of the requestor, a requesttime, a departure time, a destination, a user identifier (ID), aplurality of historical orders, information as to whether the requestoraccepts dynamic price adjusting (e.g. service price rising), informationas to whether the requestor accepts a service mode change (e.g., from ataxi service to a carpooling service), or the like, or any combinationthereof. The current request location may refer to a location at whichthe requestor initiates a service request. The user terminal 120 maydetermine the current request location using a positioning technology,such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, a Beidounavigation system technology, a Global Navigation Satellite System(GLONASS) technology, a Galileo positioning system (Galileo) technology,a Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QAZZ) technology, a base stationpositioning technology, a Wi-Fi positioning technology, or the like, orany combination thereof. The request time may refer to a time point whenthe requestor initiates a transportation service request, while thedeparture time may refer to a time point when the requestor plans to setoff. For example, the requestor may request a service at 11:00 a.m. (therequest time) for leaving at 11:30 a.m. (the departure time). The userID may be used to identify the requestor. The user ID may include a username, a cellphone number, a fingerprint, a facial feature forrecognition, or the like, or any combination thereof. The plurality ofhistorical orders may refer to earlier orders of the requestor,including information associated with the earlier orders such as aplurality of pick-up locations, a plurality of corresponding requestlocations, a description of a recommended pick-up location, or the like,or any combination thereof.

In 520, the processing module 420 may determine, based on the obtaineddata, a recommended pick-up location and a description of therecommended pick-up location. The requestor (e.g., a passenger) may meetthe service provider (e.g., a driver) at a pick-up location. Theprocessing module 420 may determine a recommended pick-up location and adescription of the recommended pick-up location, and then transmit thedetermined information to the user terminal 120 and the driver terminal140. The description of the recommended pick-up location may include aname of the recommended pick-up location, a street, a gate, or abus/metro station near the recommended pick-up location, an intersectionof two streets, a mailing address of the recommended pick-up location,etc. In some embodiments, the processing module 420 may determine apersonalized recommended pick-up location and a personalized descriptionof the recommended pick-up location by considering the preferences orhabits of the requestor as well as historical orders of the requestor.

In 530, the I/O module 430 may output the recommended pick-up locationand the description of the recommended pick-up location. The I/O module430 may transmit the recommended pick-up location and the description ofthe recommended pick-up location to the user terminal 120 and/or thedriver terminal 140. The recommended pick-up location may beautomatically displayed on a map associated with an on-demand serviceapp installed on the user terminal 120 as well as a map associated withan on-demand service app installed on the driver terminal 140. In someembodiments, the recommended pick-up location may be automaticallydisplayed on any map Apps installed on the user terminal 120 and thedriver terminal 140. The requestor may accept the recommended pick-uplocation and meet the service provider (e.g., the driver) at therecommended pick-up location. In some embodiments, the requestor may notaccept the recommended pick-up location and meet the service provider atanother location. In some embodiments, the requestor may manually changethe recommended pick-up location to a preferred pick-up location by, forexample, dragging a positioning pin on a user interface of the userterminal 120, clicking a different pick-location on the user interfaceof the user terminal 120, inputting a different pick-up location viatyping or voice input, etc. Upon receiving the user's interaction withrespect to the recommended pick-up location, the user terminal 120 maytransmit the information related to the changed pick-up location to theserver 110, which is forwarded to the driver terminal 140 via thenetwork 150, causing a display update of the recommended pick-uplocation on the driver terminal 140.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary processingmodule 420 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Insome embodiments, the processing module 420 may include a location zonedetermination unit 610, a pick-up location determination unit 620, and alocation name determination unit 630.

The location zone determination unit 610 may determine a pick-uplocation zone and/or a request location zone. In some embodiments, thelocation zone determination unit 610 may determine a shape of a pick-uplocation zone or a request location zone. The shape of a pick-uplocation zone or a request location zone may include a square, arectangle, a circular, a triangle, a trapezoid, a rhombic, an irregularshape, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, thelocation zone determination unit 610 may determine a size of a pick-uplocation zone or a request location zone. For example, the location zonedetermination unit 610 may receive data input from a user (e.g., atechnician) via the I/O module 430 to determine the size of a pick-uplocation zone or a request location zone. As another example, thelocation zone determination unit 610 may determine a geometric shapeenclosing certain pick-up locations or request locations. The size ofthe geometric shape may be determined as the size of the pick-uplocation zone or the size of the request location zone.

In some embodiments, the location zone determination unit 610 maydetermine a plurality of pick-up location zones and a plurality ofcorresponding request location zones based on the historical orders. Insome embodiments, the location zone determination unit 610 may determinea pick-up location zone or a request location zone by performing aclustering operation on a plurality of pick-up locations or a pluralityof request locations, respectively. The clustering operation may relateto various algorithms, such as a Density-Based Spatial Clustering ofApplications with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm, a Density Peak Cluster (DPC)algorithm, etc.

The pick-up location determination unit 620 may determine a pick-uplocation. In some embodiments, the pick-up location determination unit620 may determine a pick-up location in a historical order. For example,the pick-up location determination unit 620 may obtain a historicalorder, which includes a plurality of locations on travel paths of arequestor and/or a service provider before the service requestor picksup the requestor. The pick-up location determination unit 620 maydetermine travel paths of the requestor and the service provider basedon the plurality of locations. In some embodiments, the pick-up locationdetermination unit 620 may determine a pick-up location where therequestor meets the service provider by obtaining an intersection of thetravel paths of the requestor and the service provider. In someembodiments, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may obtaininformation from a road network database including the plurality oflocations, and determine the pick-up location by mapping a location ofthe requestor onto a road of the road network.

In some embodiments, the pick-up location determination unit 620 maydetermine a recommended pick-up location for a requestor. The pick-uplocation determination unit 620 may obtain pick-up location zones andcorresponding request location zones determined by the location zonedetermination unit 610. In some embodiments, the pick-up locationdetermination unit 620 may determine, based on historical orders, aplurality of correspondence relationships between the pick-up locationzones and corresponding request location zones. When receiving a currentrequest location from a requestor, the pick-up location determinationunit 620 may obtain a request location zone including the currentrequest location and a selected correspondence relationship associatedwith the request location zone, and determine a recommended pick-uplocation based on the selected correspondence relationship. In someembodiments, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may use amachine learning technique (e.g., neural networks) to determine arecommended pick-up location.

The location name determination unit 630 may determine a description ofa recommended pick-up location. The description of the recommendedpick-up location may be combined with geographic locations of therecommended pick-up location (e.g., latitude coordinate, longitudecoordinate). The description of the recommended pick-up location mayinclude a name of the recommended pick-up location, a street, a gate, ora bus/metro station near the recommended pick-up location, anintersection of two streets, etc. In some embodiments, the location namedetermination unit 630 may obtain descriptions of recommended pick-uplocations from a user via the I/O module 430 or the user terminal 120,or from a map. In some embodiments, the recommended pick-up location mayhave a plurality of descriptions, thus the location descriptiondetermination unit 630 may determine a description frequently used byother requestors as the description of the recommended pick-up location.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 700 fordetermining a selected correspondence relationship between one or morerequest location zones and a pick-up location zone according to someembodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the process700 may be implemented in the on-demand service system 100. For example,the process 700 may be stored in the storage device 130 and/or thestorage (e.g., the ROM 230, the RAM 240, etc.) as a form ofinstructions, and invoked and/or executed by the server 110 (e.g., theprocessing engine 112 in the server 110, or the processor 220 of theprocessing engine 112 in the server 110).

In 710, the acquisition module 410 may obtain historical orders of arequestor, including information related to the historical orders of therequestor such as, a plurality of request locations and a plurality ofcorresponding pick-up locations in a pick-up location zone. In someembodiments, a historical order may include a request location and acorresponding pick-up location. The pick-up location may be determinedby, for example, the pick-up location determination unit 620. In someembodiments, each of the historical orders of a requestor may include aplurality of locations on travel paths of the requestor and/or theservice requestor before the requestor meets the driver. In someembodiments, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may determinethe pick-up location based on the request location and the plurality oflocations of the requestor and the service provider.

Taking a historical order as an example, after the historical order isallocated to a service requestor, a requestor may set off from a requestlocation, and the on-demand service system 100 may obtain a plurality oflocations on travel paths of the requestor and/or a service providerbefore the requestor meets the service provider. In some embodiments,the on-demand service system 100 may obtain the plurality of locationsby receiving position information from a user terminal 120 and a driverterminal 140 at pre-determined time intervals, and store the pluralityof locations in the historical order. In some embodiments, the on-demandservice system 100 may generate a travel path of the service requestorand a travel path of the service provider based on the geographiclocations (e.g., longitude coordinates and latitude coordinates)obtained at different time points. When the requestor meets the serviceprovider, an intersection between the travel paths of the requestor andthe service provider may be determined as a pick-up locationcorresponding to the request location.

In some embodiments, the on-demand service system 100 may obtain thelocations of the requestor and/or the service provider at apredetermined time interval (e.g., 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 20 seconds,etc.). In some embodiments, the on-demand service system 100 may comparethe obtained locations of the requestor and/or the service provider withinformation provided by a road network database. The road networkdatabase may include interconnecting lines and points that representroads or intersections of roads in a given area. The on-demand servicesystem 100 may determine a location of the requestor, which is nearestto the location of the service requestor and is located on a road of theroad network, as the pick-up location.

For an on-demand service, the service provider may start billing afterpicking up the requestor, thus, if the position information of therequestor is not successfully obtained when the service is requested,the on-demand service system 100 may obtain a location of the serviceprovider at a time point that is closest to a time point when theservice provider starts billing. And the on-demand service system 100may determine the obtained location of the service provider as thepick-up location.

In some embodiments, the plurality of pick-up locations may be locatedin a pick-up location zone, which may be determined by the location zonedetermination unit 610. The pick-up location zone may refer to ageographic zone in which a plurality of pick-up locations may belocated. In some embodiments, the pick-up location zone may have acertain size. For example, the pick-up location zone may be a geometricshape (e.g., a rectangle, a circle, etc.) enclosing the plurality ofpick-up locations. The size of the geometric shape may be determined asthe size of the pick-up location zone. In some embodiments, the locationzone determination unit 610 may determine a center of a pick-up locationzone according to a clustering algorithm, for example, a density peakcluster (DPC) algorithm.

In some embodiments, the location zone determination unit 610 maydetermine the center of the pick-up location zone based on a pluralityof reference values associated with a plurality of pick-up locations.Merely for illustration purposes, if a pick-up location datasetS={x_(i)}_(i=1) ^(n) includes a plurality of pick-up locations, wherex_(i) represents a pick-up location, the location zone determinationunit 610 may determine a local density ρ of each pick-up location in thepick-up location dataset S according to Equation (1):

ρ_(i)=Σ_(j∈l) _(s) _(/{i})λ(d _(ij) −d _(c)),  (1)

where ρ_(i) denotes a local density, which may represent the number ofpick-up locations that a distance between each pick-up location andx_(i) is less than d_(c), and the pick-up locations may be included inthe dataset S, I_(s)={1,2, . . . , n} denotes an index set correspondingto the pick-up location dataset S, j denotes an arbitrary value in theindex set I_(s) except i, d_(ij) denotes a certain distance (e.g., anactual distance, an Euclidean distance, or the like) between the pick-uplocation x_(i) and a pick-up location x_(j), and d_(c) denotes a cutoffdistance, which may be predetermined by the on-demand service system100. In some embodiments, χ may be determined according to equation (2):

$\begin{matrix}{{\chi (x)} = \left\{ {\begin{matrix}{1,} & {x < 0} \\{0,} & {x \geq 0}\end{matrix},} \right.} & (2)\end{matrix}$

After determining local densities of the plurality of the pick-uplocations, the location zone determination unit 610 may determine adistance δ between a pick-up location and another pick-up locationaccording to Equation (3):

$\begin{matrix}{{\delta_{i} = {\min\limits_{j:{\rho_{j} > \rho_{i}}}\left( d_{ij} \right)}},} & (3)\end{matrix}$

where δ_(i) denotes the distance between the pick-up location x_(i) andanother pick-up location in the dataset S. When the local density ρ_(i)of the pick-up location is not larger than that of the another pick-uplocation, δ_(i) may represent a minimum distance between the pick-uplocation x_(i) and the another pick-up location with a larger localdensity. If the pick-up location x_(i) has a local density larger thanother pick-up locations, the distance δ_(i) may be expressed as Equation(4):

$\begin{matrix}{{\delta_{i} = {\max\limits_{j}\left( d_{ij} \right)}},} & (4)\end{matrix}$

where δ_(i) may represent the largest distance between the pick-uplocation x_(i) and another pick-up location in the dataset S.

Then the location zone determination unit 610 may determine a referencevalue γ for each of the plurality of pick-up locations based on thelocal density and the distance. The reference value may relate to aprobability that a pick-up location may be the center of the pick-uplocation zone. The reference value γ may be determined according toEquation (5):

γ_(i)=ρ_(i)δ_(i) ,i∈I _(S),  (5)

Then the pick-up location zone determination unit 610 may determine thepick-up location zone based on the plurality of pick-up locations andthe reference value.

In 720, the location zone determination unit 610 may determine one ormore request location zones including the plurality of requestlocations. In some embodiments, the location zone determination unit 610may determine one or more request location zones by perform a similarclustering operation on the request locations using the DPC algorithm.In some embodiments, the location zone determination unit 610 may obtainthe plurality of request locations, and divide the plurality of requestlocations into one or more groups. Each group of request locations maybe located in a request location zone. In some embodiments, the locationzone determination unit 610 may determine one request location zone, andfurther divide the request location zone into a plurality of requestlocation sub-zones.

In 730, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may determine, basedon the historical orders, a correspondence relationship between the oneor more request location zones and the pick-up location zone. Theon-demand service system 100 may store the correspondence relationshipbetween the one or more request location zones and the pick-up locationzone, for example, in a table, as personalized information of therequestor. The on-demand system 100 may recommend a pick-up locationfrom a corresponding pick-up location zone for a requestor located atone of the one or more request location zones based on thecorrespondence relationship. For example, the on-demand system 100 maydetermine, based on historical orders of a requestor, a correspondencerelationship between a request location zone (e.g., including an officebuilding) and a pick-up location zone (e.g., including a position on aroad in front of the office building). The correspondence relationshipbetween a request location zone and a pick-up location zone may includeone or more historical pick-up locations associated with a historicalrequest location. The correspondence relationship between a requestlocation zone and a pick-up location zone may further include thelikelihood of each of the one or more historical pick-up locations, fromwhich, a request who initiates a service request at the request locationmay be picked up. For example, a request location zone may includePeking University, and the corresponding pick-up location zone mayinclude a south gate of Peking University, a west gate of PekingUniversity, an east gate of Peking University with a pick-up likelihoodas 30%, 20% and 25%, respectively. In some embodiments, a requestlocation zone may associate with a plurality of pick-up location zonesaccording to a plurality of correspondence relationships. The pick-uplocation determination unit 620 may determine a selected correspondencerelationship from the plurality of correspondence relationships. Thepick-up location determination unit 620 may determine the selectedcorrespondence relationship according to one or more factors. Thefactors may include, for example, an acceptance of the requestor onhistorical recommended pick-up locations, preferences of the requestor,request time, a destination, fees, peak-hours, off-peak hours, temporaryevents, modifications to recommended pick-up location by the requestor,or the like.

If the requestor is located in the request location zone, the on-demandsystem 100 may obtain the correspondence relationship associated withthe request location zone, and recommend a location from the pick-uplocation zone for the requestor. In some embodiments, the on-demandsystem 100 may recommend a historical pick-up location with the largestlikelihood in the correspondence relationship as the recommended pick-uplocation. In some other embodiments, the on-demand system 100 maypersonalize the pick-up location recommendation based on the requestor'spreference data.

In some embodiments, the on-demand service system 100 may repeatoperations 710 through 730 in the process 700, and determine a pluralityof correspondence relationships between a plurality of request locationzones and a plurality of pick-up location zones. In some embodiments,the plurality of correspondence relationships may be stored, forexample, in a table, as personalized information of the requestor. Whenreceiving a request location of a requestor, the on-demand servicesystem 100 may obtain a selected correspondence relationship associatedwith the request location. The on-demand service system 100 mayrecommend a pick-up location zone according to the selectedcorrespondence relationship. In some embodiments, if a request locationbelongs to more than one request location zones, there may be more thanone correspondence relationship associated with the request location.The pick-up location determination unit 620 may select one correspondingrelationship based on information as to the requestor and/or the requestlocation. For example, the information may include an acceptance of therequestor on historical recommended pick-up locations, preferences ofthe requestor, request time, a destination, fees, temporary events,modifications to recommended pick-up location by the requestor, or thelike, or a combination thereof. The pick-up location determination unit620 may determine a likelihood for each corresponding relationship to bethe selected corresponding relationship. The corresponding relationshiphaving the largest likelihood may be determined as the selectedcorresponding relationship. Details regarding the determination of theselected corresponding relationship may be found in FIG. 8 and thedescriptions thereof.

It should be noted that the above description is merely provided for thepurposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of thepresent disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art,multiple variations and modifications may be made under the teachings ofthe present disclosure. For example, the process 700 may further includean operation for determining the pick-up location zone including theplurality of pick-up locations.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for determininga recommended pick-up location according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In some embodiments, the process 800 may beimplemented in the on-demand service system 100. For example, theprocess 800 may be stored in the storage device 130 and/or the storage(e.g., the ROM 230, the RAM 240, etc.) as a form of instructions, andinvoked and/or executed by the server 110 (e.g., the processing engine112 in the server 110, or the processor 220 of the processing engine 112in the server 110).

In 810, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may obtain a currentrequest location from a requestor. In some embodiments, when a requestorsend a request for an on-demand service, the user terminal 120 mayobtain position information of the requestor, and transmit the positioninformation to the on-demand service system 100. In some embodiments,the position information may be obtained based on a positioningtechnique, for example, GPS positioning, Wi-Fi positioning, base stationpositioning, etc.

In 820, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may determinewhether the current request location is located in more than one requestlocation zones. If the current request location is located in more thanone request location zones, the process 800 may proceed to 840 to obtaindata related to the requestor and/or the request location. If thecurrent request location is located in one request location zone, theprocess 800 may proceed to 830 to determine a selected correspondencerelationship.

In some embodiments, the stability and accuracy of a positioningtechnology may be considered. The on-demand service system 100 mayconsider a positioning accuracy of a positioning technique, for example,a positioning accuracy of GPS positioning may be 10-60 meters, apositioning accuracy of Wi-Fi positioning may be approximately 100meters, and a positioning accuracy of base station positioning may be 1kilometers. Merely for illustration purposes, when a distance betweenthe current request location obtained with GPS positioning technique anda boundary of a request location zone is 30 meters (within thepositioning accuracy of 10-60 meters), the pick-up locationdetermination unit 620 may determine that the current request locationis located in the request location zone even though the current requestlocation is out of the request location zone according to the GPSpositioning technique.

In 830, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may determine acorrespondence relationship associated with the current request locationas a selected correspondence relationship. If the current requestlocation is in one request location zone, there may be onecorrespondence relationship associated with the request location zone.The pick-up location determination unit 620 may obtain thecorrespondence relationship, and designate the obtained correspondencerelationship as a selected correspondence relationship. In someembodiments, the correspondence relationship may be determined by, forperforming operations 710 through 730 in the process 700, based onhistorical orders. The selected correspondence relationship may be usedto determine a recommended pick-up location.

In 840, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may obtain datarelated to the requestor and/or the current request location. The datamay include the requestor's acceptance on recommended pick-up locations,modifications of the requestor on recommended pick-up locations (e.g.,changing a recommended pick-up location from one position to another),habits or preferences of the requestor (e.g., commuter time, preferredentertainments), temporary events (e.g., traffic jam, bad whethercondition), request time (e.g., peak traffic period, non-peak trafficperiod), a destination (e.g., towards south, east), fees (e.g.,increasing or decreasing due to the selection of a pick-up location), ahistorical frequency that a corresponding relationship was selected,etc.

In some embodiments, the requestor may not accept a recommended pick-uplocation, and may change a recommended pick-up location by, for example,communicating with the service provider, or dragging a positioning pinon an interface of the user terminal 120 from the recommended pick-uplocation to another location, clicking a different pick-up location onthe interface of the user terminal 120, inputting a different pick-uplocation via typing or voice input, etc.

In 850, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may determine theselected correspondence relationship based on the data andcorrespondence relationships associated with the more than one requestlocation zones. If the current request location is in more than onerequest location zones, there may be a plurality of correspondencerelationships associated with the more than one request location zones.The pick-up location determination unit 620 may obtain the plurality ofcorrespondence relationships, and designate one of the plurality ofcorrespondence relationships as a selected correspondence relationship.

The pick-up location determination unit 620 may determine the selectedcorrespondence relationship based on the obtained data. In someembodiments, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may determine alikelihood for each corresponding relationship to be the selectedcorresponding relationship. For instance, the likelihood may bedetermined based on the obtained data using a machine learning technique(e.g., neural networks). Exemplary data to be considered may include therequestor's acceptance on recommended pick-up locations, modificationsof the requestor on recommended pick-up locations (e.g., changing arecommended pick-up location from one location to another), habits orpreferences of the requestor (e.g., commuter time, preferredentertainments), temporary events (e.g., traffic jam, bad whethercondition), request time (e.g., traffic peak period, non-peak period), adestination (e.g., towards south, east), fees (e.g., increasing ordecreasing due to the selection of a pick-up location), a historicalfrequency of a corresponding relationship to be selected, etc. Takingthe preferences of the requestor as an example, according to historicalorders, if the requestor does not accept a recommended pick-up locationfor one or more times, and the recommended pick-up location may bedetermined according to a correspondence relationship, thecorrespondence relationship may be marked as non-preferred. If therequestor manually changes a recommended pick-up location, the changedrecommended pick-up location may be marked as preferred, and a pick-uplocation zone including preferred locations may be more suitable. Asanother example, if the requestor changes a frequently used recommendedpick-up location, the pick-up location determination unit 620 maydetermine whether there are temporary events, such as short-term roadconstructions, traffic jams, etc. Taking a historical frequency that acorresponding relationship was selected as an example, the historicalorders of the requestor may include 10 service requests from a teachingbuilding in Peking University (representing a same request locationzone), and the frequencies that an east gate of Peking university(representing a pick-up location zone), a west gate of Peking universityand a south gate of Peking university was selected as a pick-up locationmay be 6 times, 3 times, 1 time, respectively. Then the correspondingrelationship associated with the east gate of Peking University may bemore suitable for the requestor. As a further example, when receiving aservice request from the requestor at a teaching building of Pekinguniversity, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may obtaintraffic conditions of an east gate of Peking university, a west gate ofPeking university, and/or a south gate of Peking university, beforeselecting a correspondence relationship from three correspondencerelationships associated with the east gate of Peking university, thewest gate of Peking university, and the south gate of Peking university,respectively.

In 860, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may determine, basedon the selected correspondence relationship, a recommended pick-uplocation. In some embodiments, the pick-up location determination unit620 may determine a pick-up location zone according to the selectedcorrespondence relationship. In some embodiments, the pick-up locationzone may include a plurality of pick-up locations. The pick-up locationdetermination unit 620 may determine a pick-up location among theplurality of pick-up locations as the recommended pick-up location. Forexample, the pick-up location determination unit 620 may determine afrequently used pick-up location as the recommended pick-up location.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for determininga description of a recommended pick-up location according to someembodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, the process900 may be performed by the location name determination unit 630.

In 910, the location name determination unit 630 may obtain historicalorders. Each of the historical orders may include a description of arecommended pick-up location. In some embodiments, the historical ordersmay include different descriptions for a recommended pick-up location.The descriptions of a recommended pick-up location may be obtained froma requestor via, for example, the user terminal 120, or determined bythe on-demand service system 100 according to a map.

In 920, location name determination unit 630 may determine whether thedescriptions from the historical orders are the same. In someembodiments, the location name determination unit 630 may determinewhether the descriptions from latest orders (e.g., 5 latest orders) arethe same. If the descriptions from the historical orders are the same,the process 900 may proceed to 930 to designate the same description asthe description of the recommended pick-up location. In someembodiments, the location name determination unit 630 may determinewhether the multiple descriptions are alias to each other. If it isdetermined that the multiple descriptions of a pick-up location arealias to each other, the location name determination unit 630 maydesignate one of the multiple descriptions of a pick-up location with ahighest usage frequency as the description of the recommended pick-uplocation. If the one of the descriptions are different, the process 900may proceed to 940 to obtain a description used by a reference requestor(e.g., another requestor with a similar request location and a similardestination).

In 930, the location name determination unit 630 may designate the samedescription as the description of the recommended pick-up location. Insome embodiments, the description of the recommended pick-up locationmay be combined with the geographic location of the recommended pick-uplocation (e.g., latitude coordinate, longitude coordinate) to helpidentify the position of the recommended pick-up location.

In 940, the location name determination unit 630 may obtain adescription used by other requestors. In some embodiments, location namedetermination unit 630 may determine a frequently used descriptionaccording to usage frequencies of the descriptions from the historicalorders of other requestors. In some embodiments, the frequently useddescription may be determined by, for example, performing operations 910through 930 on historical orders of the reference requestor.

In 950, the location name determination unit 630 may designate thedescription used by the reference requestor as the description of therecommended pick-up location.

It should be noted that the above description is merely provided for thepurposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of thepresent disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art,multiple variations and modifications may be made under the teachings ofthe present disclosure. For example, the location name determinationunit 630 may obtain a user preferred description according to afrequency of use, and determine the user favorite description as thedescription of the recommended pick-up location.

Having thus described the basic concepts, it may be rather apparent tothose skilled in the art after reading this detailed disclosure that theforegoing detailed disclosure is intended to be presented by way ofexample only and is not limiting. Various alterations, improvements, andmodifications may occur and are intended to those skilled in the art,though not expressly stated herein. These alterations, improvements, andmodifications are intended to be suggested by this disclosure, and arewithin the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of thisdisclosure.

Moreover, certain terminology has been used to describe embodiments ofthe present disclosure. For example, the terms “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” and “some embodiments” mean that a particular feature,structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.Therefore, it is emphasized and should be appreciated that two or morereferences to “an embodiment” or “one embodiment” or “an alternativeembodiment” in various portions of this specification are notnecessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, theparticular features, structures or characteristics may be combined assuitable in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

Further, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects ofthe present disclosure may be illustrated and described herein in any ofa number of patentable classes or context including any new and usefulprocess, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new anduseful improvement thereof. Accordingly, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be implemented entirely hardware, entirely software(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or combiningsoftware and hardware implementation that may all generally be referredto herein as a “module,” “unit,” “component,” “device,” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readable mediahaving computer readable program code embodied thereon.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including electro-magnetic, optical, or thelike, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signalmedium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computerreadable storage medium and that may communicate, propagate, ortransport a program for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on acomputer readable signal medium may be transmitted using any appropriatemedium, including wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, or thelike, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Scala, Smalltalk, Eiffel, JADE, Emerald, C++, C#, VB. NET,Python or the like, conventional procedural programming languages, suchas the “C” programming language, Visual Basic, Fortran 2003, Perl, COBOL2002, PHP, ABAP, dynamic programming languages such as Python, Ruby andGroovy, or other programming languages. The program code may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider) or in a cloud computing environment or offered as aservice such as a Software as a Service (SaaS).

Furthermore, the recited order of processing elements or sequences, orthe use of numbers, letters, or other designations therefore, is notintended to limit the claimed processes and methods to any order exceptas may be specified in the claims. Although the above disclosurediscusses through various examples what is currently considered to be avariety of useful embodiments of the disclosure, it is to be understoodthat such detail is solely for that purpose, and that the appendedclaims are not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on thecontrary, are intended to cover modifications and equivalentarrangements that are within the spirit and scope of the disclosedembodiments. For example, although the implementation of variouscomponents described above may be embodied in a hardware device, it mayalso be implemented as a software only solution, e.g., an installationon an existing server or mobile device.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the foregoing description ofembodiments of the present disclosure, various features are sometimesgrouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereoffor the purpose of streamlining the disclosure aiding in theunderstanding of one or more of the various embodiments. This method ofdisclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intentionthat the claimed subject matter requires more features than areexpressly recited in each claim. Rather, claim subject matter lie inless than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment.

I claim:
 1. A system for determining a recommended pick-up location,comprising: at least one storage medium storing a set of instructions;and at least one processor configured to communicate with the at leastone storage medium, wherein when executing the set of instructions, theat least one processor is directed to: obtain a current request locationfrom a requestor; obtain historical orders of the requestor, wherein thehistorical orders include a plurality of pick-up locations and aplurality of corresponding request locations, wherein the plurality ofpick-up locations are located in a pick-up location zone; determine oneor more request location zones including the plurality of requestlocations; determine, based on the historical orders, a selectedcorrespondence relationship between the one or more request locationzones and the pick-up location zone; and determine a recommended pick-uplocation based on the current request location and the selectedcorrespondence relationship.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the atleast one processor is further directed to: determine a description ofthe recommended pick-up location.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein todetermine the description of the recommended pick-up location, the atleast one processor is directed to: obtain a plurality of historicalorders, each including a description of the recommended pick-uplocation; and determine whether the descriptions from the historicalorders are the same; and in response to the determination that thedescriptions from the historical orders are the same, designate the samedescription as the description of the recommended pick-up location; orin response to the determination that at least one description from thehistorical orders is different, determine a frequently used descriptionaccording to usage frequencies of the descriptions from the historicalorders of other requestors; and designate the frequently useddescription as the description of the recommended pick-up location. 4.The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is furtherdirected to: determine a plurality of correspondence relationshipsbetween a plurality of request location zones and a plurality of pick-uplocation zones; and determine the selected correspondence relationshipbased on the plurality of correspondence relationships.
 5. The system ofclaim 4, wherein to determine the selected correspondence relationship,the at least one processor is directed to: determine whether the currentrequest location is located in more than one request location zones; inresponse to the determination that the current request location islocated in one request location zone, determine the correspondencerelationship associated with the request location zone to be theselected correspondence relationship; or in response to thedetermination that the current request location is located in more thanone request location zones, obtain historical data related to therequestor; and determine, based on the plurality of correspondencerelationships and the historical data, the selected correspondencerelationship.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein to determine whether thecurrent request location is located in more than one request locationzones, the at least one processor is directed to: determine apositioning accuracy of the current request location; and determinewhether the current request location is located in more than one requestlocation zones according to the positioning accuracy of the currentrequest location.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the historical dataincludes data related to at least one of acceptance rate on historicalrecommended pick-up locations, modifications to historical recommendedpick-up locations, and temporary events.
 8. The system of claim 1,wherein to obtain historical orders related to the requestor including aplurality of the pick-up locations and the plurality of correspondingrequest locations, the at least one processor is directed to: obtaintravel paths of the requestor and a service provider; determine anintersection between the travel path of the requestor and the travelpath of the service provider; obtain a road network including theintersection; and determine the pick-up location based on theintersection and the road network.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein todetermine the one or more request location zones including the pluralityof request locations, the at least one processor is directed to: dividethe plurality of request locations into one or more groups according toa density peak clustering algorithm; and determine the one or morerequest location zones, wherein each request location zone includes agroup of request locations.
 10. A method for determining a recommendedpick-up location implemented on a computing device having at least oneprocessor and at least one computer-readable storage medium, wherein themethod comprises: obtaining a current request location from a requestor;obtaining historical orders of the requestor, wherein the historicalorders include a plurality of pick-up locations and a plurality ofcorresponding request locations, wherein the plurality of pick-uplocations are located in a pick-up location zone; determining one ormore request location zones including the plurality of requestlocations; determining, based on the historical orders, a selectedcorrespondence relationship between the one or more request locationzones and the pick-up location zone; and determining a recommendedpick-up location based on the current request location and the selectedcorrespondence relationship.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising determining a description of the recommended pick-uplocation.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining thedescription of the recommended pick-up location comprises: obtaining aplurality of historical orders, each including a description of therecommended pick-up location; and determining whether the descriptionsfrom the historical orders are the same; and in response to thedetermination that the descriptions from the historical orders are thesame, designating the same description as the description of therecommended pick-up location; or in response to the determination thatat least one description from the historical orders is different,determining a frequently used description according to usage frequenciesof the descriptions from the historical orders of other requestors; anddesignating the frequently used description as the description of therecommended pick-up location.
 13. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: determining a plurality of correspondence relationshipsbetween a plurality of request location zones and a plurality of pick-uplocation zones; and determining the selected correspondence relationshipbased on the plurality of correspondence relationships.
 14. The methodof claim 13, wherein determining the selected correspondencerelationship comprises: determining whether the current request locationis located in more than one request location zones; in response to thedetermination that the current request location is located in onerequest location zone, determining the correspondence relationshipassociated with the request location zone to be the selectedcorrespondence relationship; or in response to the determination thatthe current request location is located in more than one requestlocation zones, obtaining historical data related to the requestor; anddetermining, based on the plurality of correspondence relationships andthe historical data, the selected correspondence relationship.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein determining whether the current requestlocation is located in more than one request location zones comprises:determining a positioning accuracy of the current request location; anddetermining whether the current request location is located in more thanone request location zones according to the positioning accuracy of thecurrent request location.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein thehistorical data includes data related to at least one of acceptance rateon historical recommended pick-up locations, modifications to historicalrecommended pick-up locations, and temporary events.
 17. The method ofclaim 10, wherein obtaining historical orders related to the requestorincluding a plurality of the pick-up locations and the plurality ofcorresponding request locations further comprises: obtaining travelpaths of the requestor and a service provider; determining anintersection between the travel path of the requestor and the travelpath of the service provider; obtaining a road network including theintersection; and determining the pick-up location based on theintersection and the road network.
 18. The method of claim 10, whereindetermining the one or more request location zones including theplurality of request locations further comprises: dividing the pluralityof request locations into one or more groups according to a density peakclustering algorithm; and determining the one or more request locationzones, wherein each request location zone includes a group of requestlocations.
 19. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising atleast one set of instructions for recommending a pick-up location,wherein when executed by at least one processor of a computer device,the at least one set of instructions directs the at least one processorto: obtain a current request location from a requestor; obtainhistorical orders of the requestor, wherein the historical ordersinclude a plurality of pick-up locations and a plurality ofcorresponding request locations, wherein the plurality of pick-uplocations are located in a pick-up location zone; determine one or morerequest location zones including the plurality of request locations;determine, based on the historical orders, a selected correspondencerelationship between the one or more request location zones and thepick-up location zone; and determine a recommended pick-up locationbased on the current request location and the selected correspondencerelationship.